W0rldtr33 Vol. 1: Terminal
James Tynion IV, words; Fernando Blanco, art; Jordie Bellaire, colors; Aditya Bidikar, letters
Image Comics, 2023
This is Tynion's most horrific series to date, full of unexpected violence and bizarre events. The story begins in 2024, with the re-emergence of the Undernet, a dark secret area below the Internet that Gabriel and his friends had discovered back in 1999. The first indication of what that means comes from a young man named Gibson Lane (with no previous history of violence) who murders over 60 of his neighbors in one day. Gabriel and the others who stopped it in the first place come together to stop it again, called together by Gabriel (who is a rich tech CEO who can afford to contact them all and pay for transportation).
There are two Special Agents who are also on the case, following a naked woman they call the "naked Grim Reaper." Their boss is closely monitoring their progress and has a special interest in the progress of the investigation, so there are several players involved. Gabriel wants to contain the w0rldtr33 infection by tracking down all of Gibson's online contacts, even though he doubts that it may already be too late. Sure enough, the naked woman shows up at the jail where Gibson was being held and kills him and all of the police there. Then she shows up at Gibson's home, where Darrean and Amanda from the 1999 gang have arrived hoping to cut off possible contamination, but instead they find someone else who has been exposed to the Undernet and PH34R.
Flash-forwards show a dysfunctional 2049 world, with Ellison Lane (Gibson's older brother) filing online stories to warn the world about what is to come. Back in 2024, Gabriel introduces the naked woman as his sister Sammi. The Underworld has spread widely, leaving mass murder in its wake. Gabriel proves just how powerful he is in the tech world by taking the whole world offline, limiting the spread of the Underworld, and setting up the conflict for the next arc. In a story so heavily centered around computers and the Internet it feels appropriate for Blanco to make frequent use of a 12-panel grid. Bellaire's colors play a significant role in the story telling: they clearly delineate day and night, past and future, and depict Undernet-related scenes with a wild psychedelic palette.
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